Swapping
by ForbiddenKHfan216
Summary: A little argument sparked by a few comments from Olette has led to an interesting bet between the SoKai and Roximas couples. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter One: The Bet

**So... apparently, since I can't tell if people are male and female (I'M SORRRRRYYYY) I'm doing this story as a little "Please ignore that I called you a girl" present to one of you lovely readers. You know who you are. **

**Disclaimers: KH is not mine, the idea is not mine. I'm just doing it as a favor to the two who share that particular account. **

* * *

**Chapter One: The Bet**

Olette grins over the top of her milkshake, smirking at the two girls in front of her currently blushing and turning red. "So… you guys have never noticed that Sora and Roxas look _exactly_ alike?" The brunette asks curiously.

Naminé and Kairi shake their heads no before looking over their shoulders in unison at the Nobody and Somebody playing the pinball machine in the corner of the café with louds whoops and groans as one of them got the better on the other and started winning. From the loud slap to the head Sora got from Roxas, it was clear that the Nobody was losing. Roxas shoves him out of the way and starts cheating.

"Well… It makes sense," Kairi says after a moment, sighing. She picks up her own shake and takes a long sip of it. "I mean, they're Nobody and Somebody. In any other world, they'd be twins."

Naminé nods and points to her own Somebody, smiling with a strange amount of cheer for the normally solemn Nobody. "Of course they look alike," She confirms, pressing her hand to her chest, where her own Heart would have been if she had one. "They used to share a Heart… and that's why they look so similar."

The two smile in unison, their shared features reflecting each other just as perfectly as it would have if they'd looked inside of a mirror.

Olette nods and chuckles.

"So you've never wondered which one is the better boyfriend?" The girl asks curiously.

Kairi and Naminé laugh before grinning at her. The answer of course, was obvious. Despite their differences, the two girls had their answers. Of the two boys they loved, their answers were:

"Sora," Kairi says bluntly.

"Roxas," Naminé insists.

At that, they turn to look at each other in surprise and then in suspicion.

"Sora's the better boyfriend," Kairi informs her Nobody and takes a large bite of the previously untouched sandwich. Chewing the deli meat and bread and lettuce furiously, like it had personally offended her choice in guys, she quickly finishes it up and folds her hands in her lap. "I mean, he's sweet and kind and always does things to make me happy."

"So you only like him because he does things for you?" Naminé asks incredulously, staring at her in surprise. She shakes her head. "Roxas is better because he actually lets you _do_ things. It's an adventure all the time whenever we go on dates. He's not as expressive in his emotions but when he does," She smiles softly, a light blush coloring her normally pale cheeks. "It's very sweet."

Soon the talk between the two girls devolves into a huge fight over who was the better guy: the better Keyblade Master, who had the cooler weapon, who had the better haircut, who had the cooler friends, who had the cuter eyes (it was a clear tie between the two and they had to admit it), and finally, who had had the better date ideas.

They had no idea that it had turned into full out screaming until Roxas ripped Namine out of Kairi's way and Sora pulled Kairi away from Namine before they could start catfighting.

"_What_ are you guys arguing about!?" Sora asks curiously as they start calming down, all while Olette is laughing her butt off in the background.

"They… they want to know…" Olette chokes out in laughter, struggling to speak coherently as the two other girls blush in embarrassment. "Which … one of you… is…. the better _boyfriend_!" And with this, she collapses out into hysterical giggles again.

Roxas and Sora blink in unison before looking at their respective girlfriend in confusion.

"Why don't we just settle this with a bet?" Sora asks curiously, letting go of Kairi long enough to scratch at his hair in confusion.

Roxas nods in agreement. "Sure. If it's alright with you guys, then how about we switch?" He asks Namine gently, keeping his hand on the girl's arms as if he was afraid to let go of her in case she would suddenly fall out of his embrace.

The girls turn pink but nod slowly.

"I'm alright with it," Namine says softly.

"Sora, you okay with it?" Kairi asks her boyfriend as she leans into him, pressing her head onto his chest and looking up at him.

The Keyblade Master grins and nods. "Sure, I have no problem with it, Kai," He agrees cheerfully. He looks over at his friend and grins at her. "Who knows, it might be kinda fun to get to know you girls a little more!" He laughs, though Kairi soon elbows him in the ribs at the idea of him getting too close to another girl.

Roxas smiles in his normal, solemn way.

"Then it's settled," He informs Olette. He raises a single finger, the black ring catching their attention completely. "We'll swap the girls for one day and whoever can make the other one the happiest wins. Hmm…" He pauses for a moment before chuckling. "The loser has to do a favor for the girls and for the winner. That alright with you, Sora?"

Sora grins, his natural competitiveness coming out at the idea of getting a favor from his know-it-all Nobody. "Sure! That's good with me!" He says eagerly before quietly letting Kairi down and holding his hand out to shake with Roxas.

With that, the two boys seal the deal and the battle for the Princess of Heart's and the Memory Witch's hearts began.


	2. Chapter Two: SoNami - Breakfast

**Anyone ever notice how stupid the pairing names are? **

**Anyway, I've decided to break up the dates into separate chapters and have each couple show off in three stages: breakfast, mid-day, and evening. After this, we'll have the results. **

* * *

**Chapter Two: SoNami - Breakfast**

He wasn't sure how this whole swapping girlfriends thing was going to work.

In fact, he didn't remember Namine, not really. It came from getting his memory wiped in Castle Oblivion. But he knows she's a nice girl and well, since Kairi was a nice girl most of the time (except when she got mad or sad then it was more of a "proceed with caution" kind of deal), Sora would make sure to treat her just as he'd treat Kairi.

And that meant as the first step, the bundle in his arms.

* * *

Naminé looks over her closet, feeling somewhat grateful that she really only had one outfit repeated multiple times.

If not, she'd be much more freaked out about getting dressed. She tugs the white dress down a little, making sure that this particular version definitely went past her thighs and to her knees. It was a lot like the dress she'd been wearing for years, save… the length. Maybe it'd spark a bad memory from Castle Oblivion but if there was one thing that Olette and Selphie had rammed into Naminé's head, it was that it was a very bad idea to wear a super skimpy outfit on a first date.

Apparently it gave boys ideas that she wasn't one hundred percent sure about, since those memories were Kairi's now.

The doorbell suddenly rings out, startling the Nobody into dropping her sandals and nearly tumbling off the bed.

"You're here _already_?" She says in surprise to the emptiness, taking a quick look at the clock on the other side of the one bedroom apartment she was now living in. Sure enough, Sora was about a half hour early.

She slips the sandals on, quickly fastening them up and hurrying the short distance to the door and opening it.

Sora is standing there with his usual big grin on his face and a huge bundle of white roses in his arms.

The girl's face turns scarlet as he holds it out to her, waving the fragrant flowers in her nose before laughing. "Is it too much?" Sora asks curiously, suddenly looking more than a little self-conscious.

Naminé notes that the blush sits a lot better on his tanned face than it does hers… and that he looks almost like a little kid, making the look that much sweeter and cuter.

She reaches out and grabs the flowers, laughing hysterically as she lets Sora in. "Yes," she admits with a smile, amused by his sudden pout and Naminé lazily wonders where she'll put the giant bouquet and if she could possibly dry a few of them to save. "But the gesture is really nice, Sora."

He laughs.

"Well, I figured, since you like white so much, they'd suit you!" He admits with that same self-conscious chuckle and he rubs his dark brown hair in the same way that Roxas often did when he was embarrassed. The sudden comparison makes Naminé smile that much more and she finds herself giggling. "Plus, the meaning of these…" Sora clears his throat and puts on a self-important look that immediately dissolves from how shy he was. "A new beginning."

The resulting scarlet that emerges from the female Nobody is very nearly fire engine red.

But the Keyblade Master doesn't seem to notice, he only walks over to the kitchen and plops himself down on a barstool and spins himself around once or twice like the little kid he mentally was.

"Well, I'd like to have a new start with you, Naminé," He explains while spinning around. "I mean, we don't have the greatest history so this'll be really fun!"

And with that, he kicks off the barstool and spins so hard that he nearly breaks it.

Naminé grabs him by the hood and pulls him to a stop, glaring at him as she tries to balance the enormous bouquet with the other hand. He gets the hint and stops trying to break her chair (albeit accidentally) and starts helping her with the flowers. Despite her not having a vase, he soon finds a pitcher by rooting around in her cabinets and fills it up with water.

After this, he takes a second look through her cabinets.

"What are you doing?" Naminé asks curiously, though her attention is more on the bouquet's petals. Her fingers are itching to start drawing it, but she was restraining herself until after the date to do so. For now, she's contenting herself to just playing with the cut flowers.

Sora pulls out a half-burnt pan, makes a face, and then puts it squarely in the trash can. "Making breakfast," He says in a matter of fact way before pulling out a second pan and inspecting it carefully. "I like pancakes, I'll make pancakes," He says as he puts this pan to the side and troops over to the fridge for the ingredients to make said dish.

"You can cook?" Naminé asks, bewildered. She'd never even suspected that the Keyblade Master _could_.

Sora nods. "Sure, who do you think cooked for Donald and Goofy? It'll be a few minutes for the pancakes though… you mind making orange juice?" He asks curiously and he even pulls out the oranges for her, placing a couple on the table in front of her.

The girl stares at them, completely confused and completely _sure_ that she'd had a carton of orange juice in the fridge.

Upon seeing her panicky expression, Sora grabs a bowl and a glass from the trusty cabinet and puts them in front of her.

"Grab a knife, cut them in half," He explains, quickly grabbing said utensil and cutting the first one himself. He flips the cup onto the bowl, places the cut part of the first onto the top of the cup. "And squeeze. It tastes better like this and we can add as much sugar as we want later," He says as he demonstrates, squeezing nearly a full cup of pulpy juice from the example orange half.

As soon as she'd gotten the hang of the unorthodox method of juicing, Sora washes his hands and goes back to pancakes. In a matter of minutes, the two of them finish their respective jobs, with Naminé now the proud owner of a huge bowl of juice and Sora balancing a large stack of golden brown disks on a plate.

Sure, it wasn't _exactly_ the complete breakfast that all the TV shows _said_ they should have, but Naminé and Sora were too pleased with the results to care much.

Besides, fresh squeezed orange juice. Who couldn't like that?

As they sit down with a quick "thanks for the meal!" uttered between them, Sora is soon to claim and inhale about half the stack of pancakes, while Naminé starts off with a much more modest three.

They are soon fighting over the last half, with forks and knives as their weapons and it eventually ends in a tie with Naminé throwing her empty glass of juice at Sora's head and Sora swiping the plate and running off towards her bedroom and locking the door so he could eat them.

And quite honestly, despite him eating most of it, it was the most fun breakfast she'd had in a long time.

* * *

**... In the words of Ouran Host Club... "He's a natural." XD**


	3. Chapter Three: Roxiri – Breakfast

**Ugh.**

**I want to sleep _so_ badly... but I can't. Dammit. I hate insomnia. **

**Anyway, hope you guys enjoy and please, GO TO SLEEP. **

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts isn't mine and neither is the idea. The execution however... :D**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Roxiri – Breakfast**

Roxas is nervous.

After all, he'd never been on a date with a Somebody. The only person he'd ever really gone out with was Namine and well, they were more the kind of couple that lounged around in their rooms and watched movies or went to the park instead of going out and doing stuff. It was easier that way for them, and thanks to the Internet, both he and Namine had huge amounts of movie trivia under their respective belts.

Sora and Kairi on the other hand, he knew, very actively went out everywhere on the island.

He tugs on a particularly spiky tuft of blond hair hiding underneath his cap as he walks down to Kairi's house, musing curiously on what the red head would actually end up wanting to do. Roxas had long since resigned himself to doing whatever Kairi wanted, as he figures that she'd be used to taking command or whatever, and following orders.

So to prepare for that, he'd dressed in very loose clothing, sturdy sneakers, and since there was rain in the forecast for today, an umbrella.

It was about nine now, and Kairi should long since been up.

He knocks on her door politely, waiting patiently until finally, a man opens it and peers down at him.

"… Sora, what did you do to your hair?" The man asks curiously, looking both amused and slightly shocked at the very blond hair peeking out of the baseball hat. Roxas can almost feel a anime-like sweatdrop trickling down his temple.

"Um, I'm not Sora," He explains for what was probably the fiftieth time since he'd come to live on the island. "I'm Roxas, his cousin."

Sora himself had been saying "evil twin" but Roxas had a little more dignity.

"Oh," The man says before a very suspicious look appears in his dark blue eyes. He leans against the door and observes Roxas carefully, looking him up and down before finally settling on the boy's face. "And what do you want, Roxas? Can I help you?"

Roxas rubs his hair nervously, or rather whatever hair he could get from the back of the cap. "Um, I'm here to see Kairi, sir," He explains. "We're going out today."

"Kairi is currently seeing Sora, young man," The man (who had to be Kairi's father from the interrogation) states bluntly.

And now he was giving Roxas a very angry look, like he was personally encouraging his daughter to cheat.

Roxas feels that sweat drop again.

"Um, yes, didn't she tell you about the bet?" He tries to ask, but is immediately grabbed by the shoulder and pulled forward.

"My daughter's heart is not a toy," Kairi's father says bluntly. "And if you cross the line, I assure you that you won't be on Destiny Islands much longer."

Now he remembers that Kairi's dad was the mayor and now a very legitimate pang of fear goes down his spine… despite the fact that the man currently threatening him is a very pudgy, middle aged man with glasses.

So Roxas just puts on his very best "_Yes, Xemnas **sir**, superior!_" face and nods.

"Yes sir, Kairi's heart is not a toy and no crossing the line," He babbles in agreement and the words seem to satisfy the papa wolf, since he lets go of Roxas' jacket and lets him in.

And he thought that the Heartless were bad.

* * *

Kairi is sitting at the kitchen table, her plate empty and a textbook open in front of her. She scribbles rapidly into her notebook, taking neat and very coherent notes from the pages. Of course, since Riku couldn't be bothered and Sora learned better this way, it was up to her to make the study sheets for all three of them.

She doesn't mind in the least: extra reviewing time!

She writes another tiny paragraph about fishing times and the local history before closing the notebook, getting up, and taking her plate to the sink to wash.

That was when Roxas was marched in, with her father on his heels.

"Kairi," Her dad announces bluntly, his furrowed brow full of concern and an unsaid promise to squeeze all the information out of here. "Roxas is here."

Said person nods jerkily before looking down at the table and spotting the textbook. Immediately, gloomy eyes light up and an amused smirk appears on the young Nobody's face.

"So you're taking local history, too, Kairi?" Roxas asks curiously, and without asking, he plops himself down on her abandoned chair and opens the book to the page she had been working on. "Let me guess," He says haughtily, with more than a touch of mischievousness. He points to her. "Sora and Riku has to take it and you're being the good girl and giving them notes since they've spent so much time running around with lessons."

For the flippant tone, Roxas gets a sponge to the head and forced to start off where she had left off taking notes.

* * *

After he had dutifully taken about two chapters worth of notes and Kairi had finished up the dishes, it was time for their date to begin.

As promised between the four, the two "couples" would spend the entire day together and meet up wherever they wanted, all while promising not to mention the other one's names. Kairi had come up with that rule, since she figured it'd be awkward between the boyfriend/girlfriend to bring up their girlfriend/boyfriend to the person they were on a date on. It would be up to each pair to figure out where they'd go and they weren't allowed to talk to the other couple either.

With that in mind, there is a very heavy silence between Roxas and Kairi for about five minutes. Where they simply stare at each other awkwardly and fidget with their clothes.

"Um…" She finally says after a while.

Her dad is looming "unnoticeably" in the corner, glaring at the two of them as they stare at each other.

Roxas clears his throat, turns red, and nods with a bit of an uneasy smile. "Guess we should be heading out now… where do you want to go?" He asks curiously, scratching in confusion at his hair. From the sudden tic, it's obvious he was more than a little nervous on what she might want to do, whether it was because of money or sheer not-wanting-to-do-this, she had no idea.

Kairi sits down next to him and thinks for a moment.

"We _could_ go to the community center," She says finally. Roxas turns to look at her, curiosity already piqued. "You see, me and the boys, we have this thing whenever we're bored," Kairi explains. She taps her chin, unsure on how to explain the strange habit.

The Nobody nods.

"Then… how about you explain it while we walk?" He asks before getting up and holding his hand out to her.

The sudden gesture reminds Kairi very strongly of Sora, who usually had the same wistful expression on his face whenever he held her hand. Although for Roxas, it is tinged more with curiosity and a little apprehension, the look is the same and still very cute.

She grabs his hand and allows her date to walk her from the kitchen to the street, all the while ignoring her dad's screams about coming back before curfew and to not do anything stupid.

The day is warm, the sun is shining every few steps from above the cloud cover, and it is an easy matter of adjusting her short strides to Roxas' long ones. True to his nature, he doesn't bother to slow down for her but only allows her to catch up. All the while, Kairi keeps on talking.

"You see, in the community center, you can take a bunch of different classes…"

"Uh huh," Roxas comments.

"And well, we usually just close our eyes, spin, and grab a pamphlet, and go to that class. Any class we end up grabbing, we go to that one."

Roxas frowns, though his expression is more amused than annoyed. "… _Any_ class?" He asks curiously, swinging Kairi's arm idly. From the way he was doing it, it was more out of reflex than anything she was doing. She nods anyway, grinning.

"Me and … one of the boys," she stutters, nearly saying Sora's name by accident. Wouldn't do to mess up on her own rule! Luckily, she manages to catch herself and continues on undeterred. "We ended up taking a pregnant woman's swimming class."

Roxas chokes on his own spit, stares at her in shock, and immediately has to sit down from how hard he was laughing.

"Hey, for the record, they actually liked us and we ended up getting invited to one of the ladies' baby showers," Kairi says defensively, though she can barely stop herself from grinning. "It was awkward explaining it but at the end of the day, S… the guy I was with ended up being the most popular person in the class and all the women wanted us to help out with the next one."

Roxas says nothing but keeps laughing his butt off.

The memories come then: the way Sora ended up having to help one of the more pregnant women into the water, the cutesy and somewhat disturbing teasing from women twice her age about what a catch he was and that they wanted a turn with him next, and how much fun the class ended up being, despite their being the youngest people there.

And sure enough, the big grin on Roxas' face was the exact same one on Sora's that day when the women kept jokingly flirting with him.

"Get up, you lazy bum," Kairi teases, making Roxas look up at her and grin. "We've got a class to take," She says as she hoists him back onto his feet, though he still wobbles like he was about to roll around the ground laughing again.

Barely about to keep himself from laughing, Roxas still manages to walk her all the way down to the community center, helps her spin around when they reach the bulletin board, and grab a pamphlet.

And that's how they ended up taking the Toddler and Tykes Class for the Arts.

* * *

After the teacher had finished giving them all instructions, Roxas, Kairi, and about twenty kids ranging from toddlers barely out of their nappies to six year olds all grab the huge hunk of clay they had each been given and start trying to tease shapes out of it.

Roxas is soon pestered by nearly every little girl in the class to help make flowers, piggy banks, a rocket ship in one daring case, and every form of jewelry, toy, and object in between.

"Kairi, _help_!" He begs from one of the tiny tables, but his partner in crime is too busy laughing and trying to build a little house from her materials. "Aw come on, girls, I need to go back to Kairi!" The boy tells one of the girls, who was trying her best to climb his knees and get into his lap. From his current height in the tiny chair meant for a four year old, she was having her work cut out for her.

She stares at him, smiles, and screams at the top of her lungs: "Roxas is gonna go back to his girlfriend so don't cry! _HEARTBREAKER_! HE'S A _HEARTBREAKER_!"

Roxas turns beet red as he grabs his materials and his little chair and runs back to the table where Kairi is sitting with two little boys and a sleeping two year old girl. Both teachers are laughing at him, making him shrivel in his jacket from embarrassment. He glares at Kairi as if it was her fault before plopping down next to her and rolling his clay into a ball.

"This wasn't what I had in mind when I thought about art class," He informs her in more than a little bit of a pout. He scrunches up the clay before rolling it back into a ball and peering at the girl more closely. Rolling it into a more tube-like shape, he holds it up to Kairi's face before slamming it back onto the table.

The two boys stare at him in rapt attention.

Kairi on the other hand, looks down at the tiny form he was making. "You know, when they said 'make something' I don't think they had a stick figure in mind," She teases, lightly elbowing him and nearly knocking the object off the table.

He grins and then molds a thin sheet of clay onto his figure's head. "It's you, Kairi," He says with a deadpan voice, though the glitter in his eyes obviously means business. "After all, I wanted to _thaaank_ you for taking me here."

And with that, he finishes "Kairi Doll's" hair and then sticks a huge nose onto her face.

"_**HEY**_!"

Kairi grabs the figure and obviously taking a cue from her louder, younger compatriots, squishes it back into a ball.

Roxas grabs her house and smashes it flat, triggering a soft "ooooooh" from the two little boys watching.

The ensuing clay fight between the two teenagers is inevitable, though it takes both of the teachers to make them stop and both little boys to round up the clay they had playfully flung into each other's faces.

After being scolded for not setting a good example for the kids, Kairi and Roxas go back to molding.

Roxas, having gotten his jacket, his shirt, and a good chunk of hair coated in clay, is all smiles as he goes back to remaking Kairi Doll.

Despite their not talking to each other now, both of them are content with the other's company and Kairi even finds herself helping one of the little boys make his own house. Roxas on the other hand, ends up helping make a number of tiny car-like blocks for the second boy. No one bothers to wake up the toddler, since it was a task much more frightening and difficult for mere mortals like themselves.

Kairi, however, takes a good look at her abandoned clay and steals it. As Roxas finishes up what felt like the thousandth car for his new friend, he stares at the shape he was watching being formed.

The girl holds it up to his face and grins.

"Roxas Doll, meet Roxas. Don't worry, you're _much_ better looking than he is," She informs the lump of clay, which sags in her hand and goes limp from the immense compliment. The goofy little grin on the clay figure's face is only outdone by the huge pineapple-like structure on his head that was supposed to represent his hair.

Roxas, being the outstanding gentleman and mature man that he was, grabs Roxas Doll and mushes him to a pulp.

And so began the second clay fight and eventually, their being banned from the class for the rest of the day until their figures were ready to be picked up later that evening.

They were laughing the entire time.


	4. Chapter Four: Sonami – Lunch

**Chapter Four: Sonami – Lunch**

After cleaning up breakfast plates (and getting syrup stains out of Naminé's carpet with enough loud apologies that the landlord came to investigate then yell at them), the two headed out of the apartment, linked arm and arm and giggling hysterically over the events of breakfast. Sora keeps smiling broadly, big enough that the normally solemn Naminé couldn't help but smile back.

As they walk through the sun-soaked streets of the Destiny Islands market, she couldn't help but ask something.

"So," The young Nobody says softly, making the boy turn to look at her curiously. "Is this what you guys do all day?"

Sora grins again, somehow making it even bigger and that much more amused. "Nope! Sometimes we hang out with Riku!" He says cheerfully before turning to a small covered stand, peering at the wares critically from a distance before pulling his arm away from Naminé's and charging forward. "Two please!" He orders as he pulls out a small orange pouch.

When the girl turns to follow him, Sora already has the two whatevers in a paper bag and seals them in tightly. She gives him a curious look as he shoves his munny pouch back into his pocket but says nothing when he retakes her arm, swinging the bag idly between them.

After a moment or two of silence, Naminé tries to take a peek in the bag.

Sora immediately holds it about three feet above her head and shakes his head solemnly. "Tut tut _tut_, Miss Namine," He says in a scolding voice, though his grin gets a little bigger and a little brighter. "How dare you look at your present before I give it to you." He says before taking a finger and whapping her nose with it lightly, making the Nobody squeal and jump back.

"Hey," She protests, rubbing the not-wounded sensory organ in offense. "You didn't have to get me a present, Sora, it's not like you're my real boyfriend." She says in a sigh, though amused by the gesture.

He was just like Roxas, cheerfully spending his hard-earned allowance on things to make other people happy instead of himself. To be honest, the only times Naminé ever saw her boyfriend buy something for himself was when he treated everybody to sea salt ice cream.

Honestly, she would pay to see that giddy smile all day if it meant spending every last munny of his.

The other boy grins.

"Yeah, but I am for today, so there," Sora says before sticking out his tongue and walking off with the bag swinging on his other arm, as far away from his date as physically possible.

Unlike with Roxas, Naminé has to run to catch up to Sora, because he didn't slow down the smallest bit.

When she finally seizes him and nearly knocks him over, he turns around with a freaked out look in his eyes, shocked that sweet and shy Naminé had grabbed his hand.

She smiles.

"Tut tut _tut_, Mister Sora," Naminé says in a snooty voice before taking the paper bag off of his arm and slipping the handles onto her own. He blinks at her, surprised at her flippant tone. She strikes a model-esque pose, her hands on her hips and her head thrust up in the air, before laughing softly. "How dare you leave your date in the dust."

And with him just staring at her, she reaches over and boops his nose just as hard as he had hers.

He yelps in surprise, jumping back as if she had burned him and scowls.

"Hey!" Sora pouts before laughing and taking her hand. He winks, chuckling to himself as they walk together through the crowded market. "Very funny, wise guy." He teases.

Namine just smiles and swings Sora's hand lazily, holding his and her souvenir of the odd day in the other arm.

* * *

Several minutes later, after Sora examines one more stall, claiming to be looking for a present for "the person I'm not supposed to mention so shush," he collapses onto a bench.

Namine stares at him in surprise as the Somebody rubs his stomach hard, practically wailing with distress as he looks up at her pleadingly.

"You're hungry aren't you." She says calmly, recognizing the look from Roxas's face.

When he got hungry and he really didn't want to admit it, Roxas would close his eyes and hyperventilate, rubbing his stomach in exactly the same way Sora was. True to the similarities to his other half, Sora looks away and blushes very slightly.

"_Noooo_….?" He says slowly, making the girl laugh.

The way too innocent expression says it all and then Naminé smiles softly.

The amused, soft, even _motherly_ look on the Nobody makes the boy turn to look at her further, staring at her straight on as she closes the distance between them, placing her hand onto his shoulder and walking behind him. Then he feels the very gentle and _super__** unexpected**_ brush of her head against the top of his and her arms around his neck and shoulders.

What was she…?!

"Don't worry, Mister Sora," Naminé says softly, taking a sudden step back. She walks back to face him and she has her hands tucked behind her back as she chuckles at him.

There's a teasing look in her eyes and in her bright smile, a mischievous look more suited to Kairi's more active features than her passive ones. She spins on her heel and winks over her shoulder.

"Consider this payment for breakfast."

And with that, she troops off, leaving Sora on the bench with the bags.

He stares off into the distance before pressing his hand to the back of his head, turning scarlet as his date's embrace sinks into the infamous mane of spiky brown hair.

Naminé had hugged him.

Willingly.

Without being asked.

When before she was terrified to even lay a finger on him.

And she had been holding his _hand_ before.

Before, she had been holding onto his arm, but really that was more of him holding her hand and arm than her doing it willingly.

He starts laughing, his face relaxing from the sudden tension of being teased by his new friend. Honestly, the idea that Naminé, one of the most controlled and solemn Nobodies with emotions that he knew, would ever tease him like a little sister would a brother never occurred to him.

Sora actually finds himself enjoying the attention, since he had never really gotten the chance to talk to her again outside of Castle Oblivion.

Maybe the date wouldn't be bad after all!

Maybe they'd be really good friends!

* * *

Naminé accepts the steaming box of dumplings from the man at the stand, also taking a pair of extra-long toothpicks/skewers with her as she walks off. From all of the food in the marketplace, she figures that the beef-filled balls of dough would be extra-filling, despite being slightly wet from having just been taken out of the water.

With a few napkins swiped from another stand, she carefully blots each one a little so that they weren't soggy and walks back to Sora.

He's sitting there on the bench, lazily enjoying the sunshine while he waited. A smile curls up on the girl's face as he suddenly spots her, his expression brightening eagerly when he sees the white box in her hand. Naminé walks towards him, removing one skewer from where she had stashed it inside of the box.

Sora reaches out for her, thanks already on his lips as she got closer.

The moment she's only a step away from being able to place the hot box of food into his hand, she stops.

She holds up her skewer.

She slides it into the uppermost left dumpling, scoops it up with a practiced flick of her wrist, and holds it out to him. Giving it an enticing wiggle, Naminé takes one step forward.

Sora's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates at the idea of her feeding him. Sure, it was unorthodox and very cute, but… he's too hungry to care.

He closes his eyes obediently, declaring: "Aaaaaaah!" in a loud voice as he leans forward to accept his tasty treat.

There's a popping noise as Naminé puts it into her own mouth and starts chewing.

He opens his eyes and stares in utter dismay as she skewers a second dumpling and eats up.

"Wow, it's really good, Sora, I have to get a few of these for my fridge when I get back to my apartment," Naminé hums in delight, taking a moment or two to savor the warm food before placing the second one on her tongue and gobbling that one up, too.

There are tears in Sora's eyes as he realizes that she's simply mimicking exactly what he'd done during breakfast: taking most of the food and leaving only a small portion for him.

That was highly unfair but at the same time, he'd gotten syrup all over her bedroom so he has no choice but sit and wait impatiently for his part.

Even if it was making his stomach scream seeing her eat _his_ food.

After eating the third dumpling out of a dozen, Naminé finally holds out the fourth one for him. He leans forward again, reaching for it with a gloved hand but again, she takes it away and steps back.

Sora glares at her, too hungry to play her games.

"Like before," She singsongs teasingly and again, she wiggles the skewered dumpling at him.

He scowls angrily, turning away from her in a severe pout.

She starts giggling, highly amused by the reaction, but when he keeps it up for more than a minute, her dark blue eyes widen in concern and Naminé takes a step forward.

"_Aaaaah_," Sora says reluctantly, opening his mouth to the skewer, his face untrusting of her antics but still full of hope that maybe, just maybe he'd be getting a damn dumpling now.

Naminé plops it into his mouth, letting him taste the sweet dough of the outside of the dumpling before whipping it back out faster than he could close his teeth onto it.

"HEY!" Sora cries out in shock before she shoves the slobbered on dumpling back into his mouth and nearly knocks him over.

"Next time, don't get syrup on my sheets," Naminé informs him softly, her face full of guilt over denying him food. She walks over and sits down next to him, placing the box onto his knee before hugging her stomach sadly.

Sora looks at her for a moment before shoving the bag of the mysterious present onto the floor, scooping up a fifth dumpling and offering it to her as a token of peace.

Naminé smiles and she doesn't even get mad when Sora takes it back and they get into a mock fight over the last seven dumplings.

He wraps his arm around her shoulder, silently saying that he forgave her and that he was hoping that he'd been forgiven for the syrup, as they laugh and poke each other with the skewers gently, never noticing the thunder crackling up ahead due to how much fun they were having.

* * *

**Ugh, this fic is like eating too much candy. DX**

**Anyway, if you'd like to leave some constructive criticism or just say you liked the story, please do so in a review. If not, I really hope you'll keep on reading until the end anyway!**


	5. Chapter Five: Roxiri – Lunch

**Chapter Five: Roxiri – Lunch**

Roxas looks critically into the mirror, staring in silence at his fogged up image as he rubs hard at his soaked hair.

He had just finished his shower to get the clay out of his hair and skin.

In Kairi's bathroom.

He was currently naked in the Seventh Princess's bathroom, with only a thin towel wrapped around his waist to preserve his dignity. Well, that, and his normal black and white wristband but… that didn't cover anything at all. He adjusts the towel, tying it a little tighter and he looks back into the mirror.

And he _still_ had some clay on the very top of his fringe.

Spinning on his heel, Roxas walks back into the shower and scrubs harder at his hair, nearly scalping himself in his attempt to get the damn stuff out.

With him so focused on his hair, when the door opens with a hard slam and Kairi comes in with her eyes closed, waving a bottle of shampoo, there is no way that the young Nobody couldn't have jumped and nearly fallen out of the closed shower.

"_Kairi_!" He shouts angrily, thanking every deity that might have existed for convincing Kairi's dad to put in a fogged glass shower container rather than the clear ones he'd seen in the Organization's bathrooms. "I'm _still_ in here! Wait your turn!" Roxas commands in his very best Xemnas voice.

Undaunted, Kairi waves the bottle again.

"Oh, it's fine, I have my eyes closed," the princess declares proudly before wandering over to the shower and ripping the door open.

"Gah! _Kairi_!"

Kairi smiles broadly at the very naked boy before plopping the bottle of shampoo into his hand. Roxas, numb and startled at the sight of a Princess with wet hair and grinning at him while wearing little more than a bathrobe, silently accepts.

"This is very good for taking out clay and other dirt," Kairi assures him before spinning on her heel, cheerfully walking out and humming as she went. "The boys and I use it all the time!"

After a moment of watching the girl walk out and then shut the door behind her, Roxas quickly darts out of the shower and locks the door with all the strength he's ever given behind a Keyblade stroke.

* * *

Kairi hums to herself as she moves around the kitchen, apparently steadily ignoring the boy in the rolled up sweatpants and borrowed t-shirt as she pulls out various spice containers and jars from their places on shelves. Roxas glares at her for a moment before plopping himself down onto a chair and watching her lazily.

She pulls one jar down to inspect its contents for a moment before placing it back onto the shelf. The Princess does this for three more minutes until Roxas finally has enough and asks: "What are you looking for?"

She turns around, smiles, and shrugs. "For the peanut butter. To make the sandwiches." Kairi replies honestly before going back to the jars.

Roxas stares at her for another minute.

"Wait, we're not going to go eat lunch somewhere?"

"Nope, we should have a picnic," Kairi replies, though her words are slightly muffled by the gigantic jar she was in the middle of pulling out of one of the cabinets. "Cause you've never been to the children's island, right? It's fun! … this isn't peanut butter…. Dad, why do you have this…"

Roxas waits a moment before jumping forward, opening various cabinets and pulling out ingredients for the meal he wanted to help make. Of course, since this was Destiny Islands, the food they made had to resist hot temperatures. If they brought something like tuna salad, it could curdle in the sun and make them sick later. Same with milk. Catching onto Kairi's mental plans, he starts lining up the jars needed to make some delicious peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

He also ducks into the underskirts of the cabinets beneath the counter, bringing several enormous jars of flour, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar out with a triumphant hmph and placing them up onto the counter.

Kairi grins at the sight of the ingredients. "Planning on baking?" She asks Roxas curiously, and she chuckles when he yelps and dodges a spider's web as he extracted a giant bottle of vanilla extract.

"What's a picnic without cookies, your majesty?" He teases, nudging Kairi playfully in the side as he hands her the bottle. She laughs and accepts the bottle, curtsying sweetly before throwing a hidden handful of powdered sugar into the boy's face.

He jump, dodging the sugar.

"No calling me Princess, Roxas," Kairi declares with a teasing laugh, though she gracefully bows her head when Roxas scoops up a handful of flour and smears it onto her red locks.

"I didn't," He snarks back, winking at her as she coughs out a breath of white powder. "I called you 'Your majesty,' Kairi." He then mimics her dainty curtsy, blushing hard as she glares at him.

He'd never curtsied before; who'd have thought that there was so much weight on your ankles?

There was a brief calculating look in the depths of the girl's violet-blue eyes that makes Roxas back up, ready to get another faceful of some sort of ingredient.

"Just give me a couple eggs from the fridge, smarty Nobody," Kairi mumbles in embarrassment, her cheeks turning nearly as red as her infamous hair.

Heck, Roxas sees to his intense amusement, she was turning as red as _Axel's_ hair.

He stares at her for a few moments as she ties on a curiously frilly apron more suited to be the accessory of a French maid and starts cracking the eggs he quickly brought to her into a bowl.

"Peanut butter cookies? Or should we make some other kind?" Kairi asks curiously.

He grins, chuckling as she turns redder when he takes another curtsy. "Sire, your majesty, I'm fine with sugar cookies. As long as I make them; you might poison me out of spite, ya know," The boy drawls slowly, making her turn around and start laughing hysterically.

"Roxas! Cut it out and just help me!" Kairi scolds as he dodges yet another elbow and then gets dragged in closer by a caught sleeve. He soon finds himself holding a wooden spoon and being directed by his new instructor in the proper way to melt chocolate to drizzle over cookies.

As she explains the steps to melt chocolate in a weird pot in pot action thing, Roxas is struck by the similarities of the girl to his girlfriend.

Kairi is currently in the same calm lecturing mode that he would occasionally find Naminé in. The last time he'd seen it, they had been watching a documentary about painters that they'd found on the internet. Namine, since her powers revolved around her drawings, had become enraptured by the odd forms and colors being projected on the screen. Roxas couldn't have cared less, but had found himself in a lot of trouble when he dozed off in the middle of the show and woke to find himself being drawn by an intense-looking Nobody with a canvas.

She had spent the next few hours cheerfully telling him what she'd learned on the show, all while smiling and attempting to capture him with gentle paint strokes.

He still had the dot-filled, er, _pointillism_, painting in his room, hung up on the wall near the window. It had been the only decoration to grace his half of the small bedroom he shared with his Somebody.

Just like Namine, Kairi smiles a lot when she explained things, even if Roxas messed up. When he accidentally drops water into the bubbling brew, she only informs him that water ruined the bonds between chocolate and he quickly learns how to "unmess" it up.

He drops the rest of the ingredients into the mixture, turning it into a much thicker paste, or as Kairi called it: "icing."

When she brings out a small jar of almond cookies, he is the one to dip half of the treat into the chocolate and then the other half into the vanilla mixture Kairi had been making while he focused on the chocolate.

He's in such a good mood, he doesn't even mind when Kairi hand-feeds him the cookie with a cheerful "Open your mouth, Roxas! Taste!"

The sweetness of the vanilla and the slight bitterness of the chocolate melts in his mouth in a way that makes him stop, something that had never happened with food since he'd first eaten sea salt ice cream.

Kairi grins when he demands the name of the delicious cookie.

"Why, don't you know?" She asks curiously. When he shakes his head slowly, she giggles then motions him forward. He leans towards her and she presses her lips close to his ear. Her breath tickles as she whispers. "They're actually _Roxas_ cookies!" She teases.

* * *

When the pair finally steps off of the dock onto the small island, they automatically press their hands together, cheerfully hooking their pinkies together like little kids.

Roxas swings the basket hanging off of Kairi's arm, laughing along with her as she animates a story of Sora and Riku running a race in which Sora had tripped and fallen on a coconut, only to come up with a mouthful of seaweed and shouting that he'd grown a beard. The girl makes a grumpy face as she mimics Riku's deeper voice and then a goofy grin as she goes into her Sora personality.

Despite the heat and despite Kairi taking over the oars because Roxas had slammed into the dock back on the main island, the two of them are perfectly cool as they walk along the beach. Every so often, she'd bend down to inspect a seashell or to nudge a little crab out of the way and into the safety of the surf away from Roxas' shoes.

When one story finishes, Roxas himself takes up the next one, describing a strange, half-remembered memory of talking with Axel and eating enough sea salt ice cream to puke the next day. His normally solemn expression turns serene as he wonders out loud about a girl he could have sworn was there. Kairi nods and thinks out loud with him, proposing ideas on why he couldn't remember her as they walk towards the paopu tree.

When a few drops of rain begins to trickle from the darkened clouds, Kairi is the one to squeal and run to the safety of the inner part of the island, much like how'd she had pushed the crabs. Roxas laughs as she scurries off with their picnic.

Instead of joining her, he twirls with the light storm, laughing as he feels the warm water flowing over him.

Kairi yells at him, laughing as she opens up the door to a small shack near the dock, inviting him to come inside before he caught his death from cold.

Roxas just smiles, waving at her as he ducks down to the sand and begins building a sandcastle… or much accurately, a sand-mush.

Something in his head… or maybe, really, his heart makes him stay out in the rain.

He is joined shortly by a now drenched Princess of Heart, laughing at him as his castle turns into a blob before cheerfully informing him that he was building it wrong.

Their picnic lies forgotten in the safety of the shack as their intertwined laughter fills the emptiness of the play island and their castle takes shape. Together, their joined hands start patting the sand into shape, carefully molding the sand into a tower.

* * *

**If you couldn't tell, the cookies that Kairi and Roxas made are called "black and white cookies"... but I call them Roxas cookies for this one, cause they remind me of his bracelet. **

**I've noticed that for the Namine/Sora parts, they're told in long chapters that flow as a story. For Kairi/Roxas, they keep breaking up into one long story then into a sort of drabble. It'll be like this until the end, honestly, so if you don't like the format, I deeply apologize.**

**Please, read and review for me. **

**Thank you for reading this far!**


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